Heather Weems
NCHC Commissioner
Heather Weems officially became the NCHC's third Commissioner on June 27, 2022, after being introduced as Commissioner on May 16 in Saint Paul, Minn. and first announced on May 12.
Weems comes to the Conference after spending 10 years (2012-22) as the Director of Athletics at St. Cloud State University, which is a member of the NCHC.
Weems is very familiar with the NCHC, having served as the Chair of the NCHC Athletic Council in 2021-22. She has been a member of the NCHC’s Student-Athlete Well-Being Task Force since it was formed in 2019, as well. During her tenure at SCSU, the St. Cloud State men’s hockey team won three Penrose Cups, made its first two Division I men’s Frozen Fours in program history, and with her hire of head coach Brett Larson, the Huskies made their first NCAA Championship game in 2021. Weems has been in her role at St. Cloud State since well before the Conference began play in October of 2013 and has been involved in NCHC operations during all nine years of conference competition.
Throughout her career, Weems has served on and held various leadership and committee positions in the NCHC, Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) and the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC). She brings a 23-year career in athletic administration to the NCHC, which started at a fellow NCHC member institution, the University of Denver, in 1999. Following her time in Colorado and prior to arriving at St. Cloud State University, Weems was a senior member of the athletic administration at Drake University.
Weems earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Iowa, where she was a member of the varsity rowing team, garnering team MVP honors and earning Academic All-Big Ten honors. She also holds a master’s degree in higher education from the University of Denver, another NCHC member school.
Weems and her husband, Bill O’Donnell, have four sons: Liam, Lukas, Lincoln and Landon. Weems resides in St. Cloud, Minn. with her family.
